WATCH: Teddy Bridgewater crashes in his old spot on the Saints bench

Carolina Panthers QB Teddy Bridgewater ran out of bounds and kept going, until he fell in his old place on the New Orleans Saints sideline.

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New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton found time to chuckle after squeaking out a win against Carolina Panthers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, his former protégé.

“I don’t remember him moving that well,” Payton said in his postgame media conference call. “He got out of some tough looks. Obviously he played well.”

Bridgewater ran twice to gain 10 yards, but one of those scrambles went out of bounds — and into the Saints sideline. His momentum carried him past a bemused Alvin Kamara until he fell into the New Orleans bench, right in his old spot between Drew Brees and Taysom Hill.

All three quarterbacks laughed about it before Bridgewater jumped back to his feet and hustled back into the game, where he finished with one of his better stat lines as a pro: completing 23 of 28 passes for 254 yards and a couple of touchdown strikes.

It wasn’t enough to win the day, but it came close. Bridgewater surprised the Saints several times on Sunday, at one point chirping with Payton after each team committed off-setting penalties. It’s clear that he’s still well-liked by the Saints coaches and locker room, and likely by many fans. They’ll just have to avoid cheering for him too loudly when Bridgewater’s Panthers are pushing New Orleans for a much-needed division win.

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